An active player in the equipment leasing sector, LINC Capital Inc. is set to come to market in the late first or early second quarter, and plans to issue one to two times a year going forward, said Marion Silverman, senior vice president of capital markets at LINC.
The company's next offering, which will be managed by Prudential Securities Inc., will likely be structured according to Rule 144A. The deal, mainly a small ticket equipment receivables transaction, will be in the $200 million range, she said.
LINC last came to market in July with a $237 million deal structured in three parts. The senior piece, wrapped by Ambac, was offered at a 100% floating rate and was rated triple-A by Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Fitch IBCA. The two subordinate tranches, offered at a fixed rate, were rated BBB and BB, respectively, by Fitch.
This floating-rate structure is not typical of equipment receivables transactions, said Silverman. "Prudential Securities pioneered that structure for us and that's worked pretty well," she said. "We'll take a look at market conditions to see if we want to continue with that or go back to a more traditional, fixed structure."
Though the company's transactions have been private and 144A to date, LINC is not closing its doors to the public arena. "It is something that we constantly look at when we get close to a securitization," Silverman noted.
"We haven't ruled it out," she said. "It's just that to date the pricing hasn't been that much better. We want to make sure that we get the best execution, whether it's in the public or private market. It's really whatever market serves us best."
Silverman, who re-joined the company in 1999 as vice president of capital markets, was recently promoted to her current post. She has taken on LINC's banking relationships and cash management functions while overseeing the company's capital markets and securitization activities.
LINC also recently appointed Mark Arvin as senior vice president and chief risk officer. Arvin, who joined LINC in December 1999, will be in charge of setting credit policy and procedure and maintaining the overall integrity of the company's credit process and lease portfolio.
Along with Silverman and Arvin, Guy Thier, who joined LINC in 1998 as director of information services, was promoted to president of information systems.
